Dispensing cabinet for rolled sheet materials



April 29, 1952 R. R. CARDALL 2,594,391

DISPENSING CABINET FOR ROLLED SHEET MATERIALS I Filed Aug. 15, 1949 7 INVENTOR ,e/ameo e. 64201944,

E1 E- By [Zak $7M ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 29, 1952 DISPENSING CABINET FOR ROLLED SHEET MATERIALS Richard R. Cardall, Salt Lake City, Utah Application August 15, 1949, Serial No. 110,400

1 Claim.

The present invention relates to improvements in dispensing cabinets for rolled sheet materials, and relates especially to a dispensing cabinet or container designed to facilitate the manual unrolling and severing of heavy or bulky sheet materials such as rolled corrugated paper, fiber, fiberboard and the like. the invention is the arrangement by which a plurality of rolls of such material may be handled and dispensed from a single cabinet or container without losing control of the material.

In the prior art numerous dispensing racks, cabinets, and supports of various kinds have been designed for handling and dispensing sheet materials of many types. Devices for dispensing paper towels, manually or automatically, arrangements for holding rolls of Wrapping aper for manual unrolling and tearing against a severing edge, dispensers for tacky tapes, adhesive tape, and for many other kinds of rolled papers and fabrics are available. Some of these, particularly dispensers for adhesive tapes and ribfbons, for example, are adapted to handle and dispense, or assist in dispensing two, three, or more strips or rolls. The latter are usually small devices arranged to mount spools or small rolls which have no particular tendency to rewind and withdraw the sheet material from the operators convenient reach. Examples of such devices are shown in the recent patents to Gillanders and Daggett, Reissue No. 22,565 and Miller, No. 2,424,486.

For packaging fragile merchandise for shipment or rough handling, large quantities of heavy, resilient material are used, especially corrugated paper and fiberboard of various weights and degrees of resilience. This material is commonly supplied in large bulky rolls, commonly being wound without a spool or core. It has a tendency to retain its rolled or coiled shape and when withdrawn from a roll it tends to retract from the withdrawn position and to recoil or spring back to its former position. This tendency of course is not limited to corrugated fibrous material. It prevails to some extent in practically all sheet materials, but it is a pronounced tendency in corrugated paper, wire screening, and the like.

It has been suggested in the prior art that a dispenser for corrugated paper and the like should be equipped with a device to prevent the retraction referred to above. One example is the Ringel Patent No. 2,149,869 where a pawl device in the form of a pivoted plate is arranged to drag over the corrugated material as it is withdrawn A particular feature of and to catch behind a corrugated element and prevent the springing back or retraction referred to above. The present invention uses a somewhat similar arrangement in principle.

So far as is known, no satisfactory device has been known in the prior art for handling a plurality of rolls of resilient material, of variable width and number, and arranged in various relative positions, as is frequently required when mixed or varied merchandise is being packaged. Such packaging requires the use of several widths of wrapping material, and it has been customary in the past to provide a, separate dispenser for each width of corrugated paper and fiberboard. This is objectionable, of course, for the reason that space is usually at a premium in wrapping and packaging or shipping departments, e. g., in retail department stores and the like. Of course two or more narrow rolls of material might be placed in a dispenser designed for a single wide roll but in all the prior art devices of which applicant is aware any means which may be provided for holding the sheet material against retraction after cutting or tearing would be released upon movement of one strip to turn loose all the others.

It is an object of the present invention to devise a holder or dispenser that will be free of all the objections and limitations mentioned above. The device of the present invention will hold .two, three, or a considerably larger number of rolls of resilient sheet material and will retain an individual control over each of them, regardless of the width or the position in which each such roll may be placed. This object is attained by providing a series of independent gravity-operated pawl or detent elements each of which will engage the sheet material running over or past it to prevent the recoil or retrogressive movement mentioned above. At the same time an exceedingly simple construction is made possible.

A further object of this invention is to facilitate the loading of relatively heavy rolls of sheet material, corrugated fiber or paper or the like,

into the dispenser for use. Many devices of the shown at It and 13, Fig. 1.

of bar 24.

does not require feeding the material onto an axle or reel, although one could be used if desired for special uses.

Still further advantages and objects will become apparent from a detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a device made according to the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the device shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional detail view taken substantially along the line 33 of Fig. 1 showing on a larger scale certain elements for holding and facilitating the tearing or cutting of sheet material to be dispensed; and

Fig. 4 is an end view, similar to Fig. 2 but on a smaller scale of a modified form of the inventlon.

As shown in the drawings, the device of the present invention comprises a substantially cylindrical receiver or receptacle for rolls of sheet material to be dispensed therefrom which may be made of any suitable structural material, preferably a sheet metal of fairly heavy gauge. Plywood or other materials may be used in part or all of the major structure if desired. As shown, the principal body member H1 is formed of a single sheet of material, curved into cylindrical shape to provide a large substantially cylindrical chamber open at both ends. While the size may be varied, this chamber preferably is of sufficientdiameter to receive large commercial rolls of the material to be dispensed. For example, some materials of the type for which this device is well adapted are supplied in rolls about 18 inches in diameter although the size obviously will vary widely for different uses. In one embodiment the device is made slightly larger than the diameter mentioned, to afford clearance, and the member is made of a fairly stiff and firm grade of sheet metal.

Member is preferably supported at both ends, and may alsobe supported at one or more intermediate points if desired, by flanged supporting stand elements l2 and 14. Each of these isof substantially plane construction, cut out to receive the member 10, and formed with a narrow flange turned and welded or otherwise suitably secured to the member H3. These flanges are The end members 42 and M are also provided with reinforcing flanges 26 and 22, respectively.

At each end there isprovided a retaining bar 24 to prevent lateral displacement of roll material placed within the dispenser. Since these bars are preferably identical in construction and arrangement a description of one will sufiice. Bars 24 may be of any suitable material, e. g. metal Or wood, of strength and rigidity sufiicient to hold the rolls of material in place. They are pivoted to the end members by a rivet or bolt 25 and an open detent member 26, provided with an oifset lower portion 28 which is suitably secured as by riveting or welding to the end member l2 or 14, is provided to hold the opposite end With this arrangement, either or both bars 24 may be swung out of locking position by lifting the free end clear of the holder 26, to permit introduction of the rolled corrugated paper or other material to be dispensed.

As seen in Fig. 1, three rolls of material 32,

34 and 36, of varying widths are mounted in the dispenser. Only one of these, roll 32, is seen in and variable in width and other dimensions.

4 Fig. 2, while the roll 36, shown at the right in Fig. l, is seen fragmentarily in Fig. 3.

The essentially cylindrical container or body member ID is preferably provided at its upper part with a substantially tangential extension 40 which terminates in front edge flange 42 extending downwardly and somewhat forwardly. Flange 42 is provided with a cutting or tearing edge 44 which may be either straight and sharp or serrated, as desired. By reason of its angle of disposition the flange does not interfere with the operators access to the paper as it would if it were turned down at a more acute angle. The other terminal edge part of body member I0 is formed preferably with a reversely curved portion which terminates below and somewhat behind the cutting edge 44. This part 50 is formed at each end with an extending ear portion 52 to form support means for the ends of a hinge pin or pivot rod 54 which extends substantially the full width of the member 19.

Upon the hinge pin or pivot rod 54 are mounted a series of freely swinging detent members or pawls 56. As shown in Fig. 1 there are six such members 56, but the number may be few or many The number should at least equal the number of rolls to be dispensed (maximum). Their purpose is to keep the material pulled out of the receptacle through the guide channel formed by members 49 and 53 from recoiling back inside and out of the users reach. They hold the end projected outside within easy access.

Preferably, all of the members 55 are identical in size and shape, or substantially so, and they are conveniently formed of heavy sheet metal. As shown each is formed so as to be weighted at its lower end and thus each will tend to swing counterclockwise at all times, as viewed in Figs. 2 and 3. As shown, each element 56 has a substantially straight or planar portion 51 and is folded upwardly with a parallel and substantially contiguous portion 58 terminating in an outturned angular lip 88. The member 56 is secured, by welding or other suitable means, to a tubular element 62, a convenient method of securing being by spot welding. Tubular element is mounted for free rotation on the hinge pin or pivot rod 54. The upper end of member 51 terminates in a fold or downturned portion 64, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

With the arrangement just described, each of the rolls 32, 34 and 36 is independently engaged by at least one of the pawl members 56. Hence an operator pulling on one of the rolls, e. g. roll 35, will not disturb or release the pawl or pawls which hold any of other rolls. As noted above this is an important advantage because of the relatively stifi and resilient nature of corrugated paper and its strong tendency to spring back into its previously coiled form when released.

Obviously, one using this device will take hold manually of the end portion of the strip, e. g. strip 36, Fig. 3, which extends outside the con.- tainer l0 and beyond the detent pawls 56.: He will pull oil" as much material as his purpose requires, then by lifting it upward forcibly against the cutter or severing edge 44 he cuts or tears off the material desired. The pawl or pawls 56 are urged by gravity against the strip at all times and any retractive movement of the strip upon being severed or released serves to tighten the pawl against the lower surface of tangential element 40, as shown in Fig. 3. With this arrangement, the resistance of the pawls 56 against forward motion of the material is negligible. This is important with the lighter grades of corrugated paper since any substantial resistance, as by heavy or spring-urgedvdetents, would be injurious to the material. At the same time the detents are very efiective in preventing retrogressive movement of the material. In the case of corrugated paper, especially, the pawl or detent easily engages the grooves and affords a positive lock against the inadvertent withdrawal of the paper into an inaccessible position. The same advantages may be secured, although to a somewhat lesser degree in some cases, with the dispensing of other materials of a resilient nature, such as screen wire, smooth, heavy wrapping paper, and other materials commonly dispensed in a similar manner.

In Fig. 4 there is shown a modification which sometimes is advantageous. In this modification the main cylindrical body element, indicated as A and MB, is formed into parts hinged together at 10 so that the top part of the structure can be raised to afford convenient access to the inside from the top, for the removal of intermediate rolls of paper or the like, or for other purposes. With a large unit the weight of the hinged part I BE will be sufiicient to afford suitable resistance for the cutting or tearing of at least the lighter materials against the cutting edge 44 (Fig. 3) but if desired the hinged upper part lllB may be latched down against lifting by any suitable latch means, not illustrated.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the device is a compact and eflicient unit for the dispensing of heavy materials and for their severance into useful lengths. It has particular application to the wrapping of miscellaneous articles of fragile nature with corrugated paper and the like but the invention is not limited to such use nor is it limited to the precise details set forth above or otherwise except as may be required by the prior art. Obviously the device may be made wider to accommodate several wide rolls if desired, or its proportions and the arrangement of structural details may be varied within the skill of the art without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

The combination of a body member which includes a cylindrical element adapted to enclose at least partially a relatively wide supply roll or a plurality of narrower rolls of resilient sheet material, said .body member comprising an upper generally tangential lateral wall extension and a lower reversely bent Wall extension, said extensions forming between them a guide channel for said sheet material as it is withdrawn from a supply roll, pivot supporting elements extending from said lower extension, a pivot rod element mounted on said supports and extending substantially parallel with the axis of said cylindrical element for substantially the full length of said guide channel, a series of weighted pawls each mounted for free and independent pivotal movement on said pivot rod element, each of said pawls being arranged to swing by gravity into a position to restrain retractive movement of said sheet material towards its supply roll by gripping it against said upper lateral extension, and cutting means along the outer edge of said upper lateral extension to assist in severing withdrawn sheet material.

RICHARD R. CARDALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,332,386 Dwyer Mar. 2, 1920 2,349,635 Pusheck May 23, 1944 2,472,712 Lifschitz June '7, 1949 

